With cases rising in the region, MAWD needed to expand capabilities immediately. However, the lead time to purchase this type of equipment is long. To obtain the diagnostic tools needed to expand testing right away, the pathology group had to think creatively.

“When we first set up testing, our focus was on helping the local hospitals who were seeing far fewer patients with concerns for COVID-19. Reagents were available, and our technologists had time, so we started with a manual nucleic acid extraction process,” Dr. Samuel Caughron said. “With the rapid rise in the number of patients at local hospitals needing to be tested, as well as strong interest from more facilities in the area and the need to test emergency personnel and other Priority 2 patients, we realized quickly we needed to increase our capacity.”

Ceva laboratories use these tools on a regular basis. However, the company said it was an easy decision to lend the tools for use in human health. The instruments Ceva is lending are considered the gold standard for this type of diagnostic process in both humans and animals.

“Ceva is solely focused on developing products for animal health. However, we know the health of humans and animals is interdependent," John El-Attrache, global director of scientific and innovation direction at Ceva, said. "Our One Health mindset means we always take an interdisciplinary approach to solving health problems. We are fortunate that our current work load could be adjusted to free up these instruments for human testing during the pandemic.”

“MAWD and the Kansas City community owe Ceva a huge thank you for providing the equipment so quickly for MAWD to scale up testing,” Caughron said.